Dr. Dre and his classic album The Chronic have returned to the Billboard 200 for the first time in more than 20 years, coming in at no. 72 on this week's chart thanks to a new wave of digital "sales."
It may seem surprising that Chronic hasn't managed to break into the 200 in the last two decades—after all, albums such as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of The Moon and Metallica's "black album" are almost constant on the chart, and you can find vinyl copies of Dre's masterpiece at any Hot Topic/fye location. So what's been keeping The Chronic out of contention? Simply put, the lack of digital availability.
The Chronic was removed from digital retailers during 2011 as a result of the ongoing legal battle between Dre and Suge Knight's Death Row Records. The parting of Dre from Death Row was less-than-cordial, and Knight was less-than-excited to turn over one of the bestselling albums in the label's history over to the departed Dre. Thus a battle continued for more than a decade, and became more amplified when the concept of digital rights emerged. Eventually a judge ruled during 2011 that Death Row did not have the right to distribute the album digitally (but could continue to do so physically).
The album finally saw the internet again this week as part of the launch for Apple Music, which Dre of course plays some role in as a member of Apple's executive board. There's no doubt that digital sales were the driving force behind Chronic's surge: Of the 8,000 in equivalent sales that the album received, more than 6,000 were attributed to digital sales (of both the album as a whole and for individual songs accumulated into "equivalent" album sales). That allowed Chronic to place no. 23 on this week's Digital Albums chart.
The last time the album made an appearance on the charts was August 27, 1994. The album was released during the last month of 1992, and ended up spending 28 consecutive weeks in the Top 10, peaking at no. 3.
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